In making electrical connections with printed circuit boards, it is desirable to provide socket contacts with two spaced-apart metal cantilever beams for tightly gripping male contact posts. With single cantilever beam construction, the plastic member positioned opposite the single beam to oppose the gripping force has a tendency to creep and deform with age and thereby reduce the life and reliability of the socket. It is also desirable to provide a compact socket structure, for space considerations typically require that the socket contacts be tightly stacked into overlaying rows adjacent one board edge. To assure good electrical contact, precious metals (e.g., gold over nickel) are often selectively applied to the beams in the region where they contact the posts. The precious metal can be applied by stamping the contacts from a sheet of base metal having a strip of precious metal inlayed or welded to it or by dipping the contact into a plating bath. With either process it is important to minimize the amount of precious metal used.
Known socket contacts with dual cantilever beams employ a longitudinally extending box to surround the contact post. The post is received through an open transverse end and the cantilever beams are supported from opposite sides of the box. The box and beams are stamped as an integral piece and then folded into final shape.
Johnson U.S. Pat. No. Re. 29,513 shows a socket contact constructed by folding one end of a generally flat strip backward longitudinally over itself, with the folded end forming a cantilever beam, and cutting a hole in the vicinity of the fold to provide an entrance for the contact post.